because if i build it with care it will last that much longer
by earlgreymilktea
Summary: If Bokuto is an owl, then Keiji will do his best to be the safe nest waiting for him to come home. Because even the fiercest owl needs to find shelter on a stormy night, right? [bokuaka]


**wtf am i doing school's back tomorrow and i did like nothing all break  
somebody build a blanket fort with me**

**/WrappedInChocolateBlankets translated this into polish if anybody is interested! **

***astraphobia.  
*title from hedley's "shelter"  
*also akaashi's inner thoughts are super poetic who knew**

* * *

"Wow, it looks bad out there, doesn't it, Akaashi?"

"Yes, it does," Keiji replies, looking up from his calculus textbook. He watches his captain peer out the window at the pouring rain and dark grey clouds, and then he glances at the alarm clock next to the older boy's bed. "Huh, it's gotten late. I should be going."

"What? In this weather?" Bokuto spins around to face him, his eyes wide. "You're going to be blown away!"

"I'm not that weak, Bokuto-san," Keiji deadpans.

"Well, I'm not letting you go out there. What kind of captain would I be if I let our precious setter get sick, huh?" He put his hands on his hips, nodding decisively. "You can stay the night. I'll ask kaa-san to bring out the extra futon."

Keiji opens his mouth to protest, but the third year is already bounding out of the room. He sighs, but it's not the first time he's inconveniencing Bokuto and his family. There were strategy nights when they were up against a worthy opponent like Nekoma, there were sleepovers with the whole team where they'd stay up late talking about everything from girls to yakiniku, there were previous study nights where despite how Bokuto usually is with his spiked up hair and all, he's actually a good senpai and pretty smart in math.

Pulling out his phone, Keiji sends a quick message to his mother about not going home. He receives a reply with weird typos and winky faces that tell him his younger brother managed to grab the phone, and then the usual _Be good and remember to thank Bokuto-san!_

"Here it is! Do you need a change of clothes, too?"

Keiji stands to help Bokuto with the futon. "Yes, please."

"You don't have to be so polite every time, you know," says Bokuto, digging in his closet. "You're my best friend and vice captain, and my parents love you, so don't act like a stranger, yeah?"

"But I'm a guest, Bokuto-san."

"See, I've told you there's no need to add the '-san', Akaashi."

"But you're my senpai, Bokuto-san."

"But we're friends! There's no need for honourifics between _friends_!"

Keiji considers this. "These pants seem a little too warm for this season, Koutarou-san." There's a sudden silence from the other side of the room, and he looks up to find Bokuto standing upright, gaping at him. He raises his eyebrows slightly. "Are you alright, Kouta-"

"You know what? Call me whatever you want." Bokuto turns and practically dives into the closet, but not before Keiji catches sight of the red spreading across the third year's face.

"Here, is this okay?"

Keiji takes the shorts from Bokuto, nodding. "Thank you- Bokuto-san? Bokuto."

His captain jerks his gaze from the window. "Ah-yeah? Uh, you can take the bathroom first. I'll just... close the curtains, yeah."

Keiji raises his eyebrows, but doesn't say anything. He leaves the room, heading down the familiar hallway to the bathroom.

In the shower, he thinks about the homework he has to do, but his thoughts quickly turn to the practice match they had yesterday. Bokuto was in top condition, only dipping down to dejected mode twice throughout the whole match, and both times Keiji managed to pull him back out of it before their opponent could gain more than three points. It was also thanks to Komi and Konoha and the others, refusing to stop supporting their captain even when he's being impossible. Keiji was just glad that Bokuto remained in such a good mood afterwards that he treated them all to ice cream. That smile of his is goofy and terribly dazzling but Bokuto looks best that way- smiling. Like he's invincible. And when he looks like that, Keiji finds that he had a hard time looking away.

Which is dumb. Because staring into the sun hurts, and Bokuto's smiles aren't exclusively for him, not that it matters if it was, and besides, no matter what the captain likes for everyone to believe, Keiji knows the boy isn't as invincible as he seems.

Sometimes he tried to fly a little too fast and slammed back down to earth a little too hard, but Keiji's always there to pick him back up. At least, he tries to be. He's not entirely sure how or when being dubbed 'Bokuto's babysitter' turned into 'Bokuto's shadow', but he doesn't mind. If Bokuto is an owl, then Keiji will do his best to be the safe nest waiting for him to come home. Because even the fiercest owl needs to find shelter on a stormy night, right?

Great. Now he's making owl analogies. Proof that he's been hanging around Bokuto a little too much.

"Bokuto-san, I'm done with the bathroom." Keiji enters the room while rubbing his hair with a towel, but pauses when he doesn't see his captain anywhere. "Bokuto-san?"

"A-Akaashi!" A head of white-and-black pops up behind the bed, golden eyes meeting dark ones.

"... What are you doing there, Bokuto-san?"

"I was just... I, uh, dropped my- contact lens!" Bokuto grabs his clothes, shuffling past Keiji into the hallway. "I'm going to go use the shower. You make yourself comfortable, yeah?" And then he's gone before Keiji can say another word.

"You have 20/20 vision," mutters Keiji, flopping down onto the waiting futon. He glances around the room, purposely avoiding eye contact with the pile of textbooks in the corner. About to give up and resort to playing Tetris on his phone, a sudden flash of light catches his attention.

Lightning.

Keiji moves across the room to pull aside the curtains on the window. There's only grey out there and endless rain, but he waits, peering up at the dark sky. A moment later, he hears the rumble of thunder rolling after its precedent bolt of lightning. He keeps waiting, until the sky brightens momentarily with white veins spreading out and then retreating as quickly as he can blink.

He's always been fascinated with lightning storms, even when the wind's howling and the house is nearly shaking from the rain. There's just something about the natural phenomenon, and it's pretty, too. Something about how terrifyingly dangerous it can be and yet how captivating it is to watch.

Almost like watching Bokuto spike the ball across the net, straight into the opponent's court, blowing past their last defense like a bullet through the air.

Keiji shakes his head, clearing his thoughts. He's sitting on Bokuto's bed watching the storm rage on when he hears Bokuto's shuffling approach the room. He turns to find the third year humming to himself as he enters the room, his usual smile on his face. Keiji watches him in silence for a while, content.

Then Bokuto looks up at where Keiji is sitting with the curtains open, and his smile falters. It's slight but Keiji has been trained to watch for the smallest changes in his captain's moods. "I thought I closed the curtains."

"You did, I just wanted to see the lightning."

Bokuto's mouth opens and closes for a moment. "Oh. Ah. Okay." He glances back down at his floor, the textbooks, his desk, Keiji's feet, anywhere but the window.

Keiji raises his eyebrows slightly at how weird Bokuto is acting, but before he can say anything, another flash of lightning interrupts him. Silently, he watches Bokuto's shoulders stiffen, before the third year is bouncing across the room to sit next to Keiji on the bed, babbling about the latest shounen manga he's read. He has half a mind to call his senior out on his strange behaviour, but as he watches Bokuto's face light up, he decides against it. If there's something really bothering Bokuto, he'll tell Keiji when he's ready.

It's only when the lights are off and they're both in their respective beds ready to sleep when it happens again. Or, well, thunder shakes the air, and there's a strange whimpering sound following it. Keiji cracks his eyes open.

"... Bokuto-san?"

"Yeah, Akaashi?" His voice is as loud and as bright as ever.

"... Nothing."

"Goodnight, Akaashi!"

"'Night."

He keeps his eyes open until the next round of lightning and thunder appears. And he's right, the lump on the bed that is Bokuto jumps, and there's that weird helpless sound like someone is freaked out and wants to abort mission but not quite getting there.

Keiji sighs quietly. Then he pushes himself up. "Bokuto-san."

"... Yeah, Akaashi?"

"Are you scared of thunder?"

There's muffled spluttering. "Wh-what, no! Why would I be? Th-There's nothing scary about thunder! I'm a fearsome owl, I'm not afraid of th-" There's a suspicious hoot when thunder booms again, so Keiji makes a decision.

He crawls over to the edge of the bed, dragging his blanket with him. "Bokuto-san. Get up."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

The third year obeys, climbing out of bed and scrunching himself into a ball next to Keiji on the floor. The second year setter pulls the comforter and several pillows off the bed, and sets to work arranging the materials around the two of them while Bokuto watches with wide golden eyes glinting in the dark. It takes five minutes of shuffling and shoving and shifting until Keiji is satisfied and Bokuto's curiosity wins.

"What are you doing?"

"A blanket fort," answers Keiji matter-of-factly. He settles down next to Bokuto, handing him a stuffed owl plushie that he picked off the bed. When Bokuto continues staring at him, he scratches at his neck, feeling a bit embarrassed. "My little brother, he's also sca- startled-by thunderstorms. So I'd build a blanket fort with him when it gets really bad. I don't know, it worked for him."

Bokuto is silent for a couple of seconds, longer than Keiji expects, and he's starting to wonder if maybe he should have just minded his own business. The captain was a grown boy, nearly a man, he doesn't need Keiji pulling elementary school stuff on him-

"Thanks, Akaashi." Bokuto's voice is barely above a whisper, the quietest Keiji's ever heard it, filled with gratitude and something close to wonder. Golden eyes are still watching him, but there's a smile on the third year's face now.

"It's nothing," says Keiji, looking away and thanking the darkness for covering up his blush. He's thinking of what to say next when the next round of thunder comes along, and Bokuto instinctively leans into him. Keiji reaches out. "Are you okay?"

"No." Bokuto shuffles closer, and suddenly it's like somebody turned on the heat in here. "Sorry. I guess I am scared of thunder."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Well, I have a reason. There was this one time in the summer, when I was out catching dragonflies and then it started to rain, and I got lost coming back to the house, and then it turned out to be a thunderstorm! So I took shelter in somebody's shed but it leaked and there were bugs and it was so scary, Akaashi, you should've been there, well, no, you shouldn't have, but it would've been nice if you'd have made this blanket fort thing for us then, I bet I wouldn't be so scared of thunder, I mean, I'm not scared of anything when I'm with you."

Keiji stares at his captain. He doesn't know how he's supposed to react to all of that, but he's glad the other boy isn't shaking so much anymore. "Tell me another story," he suggests, hoping he can continue to distract Bokuto until the storm backs off.

"Well, there was that other time when I slept over at Kuroo's, oh and Kenma was there too, of course..."

Keiji listens, a small smile on his face as Bokuto's voice returns to that radiant animated quality, the kind that somehow never gets tiring and causes something warm to kindle inside of Keiji, not that he'd ever admit stuff like that during daylight. They're practically leaning into each other's space now, blankets wrapped around them and pillows supporting their weight. It's different from when the blanket forts he makes with his brother; there's more heat, less movement, and his heart is pounding like it's going out of style. But that familiar comfort and warmth is all there, and Keiji doesn't mind it at all. In fact, Keiji realizes dazedly, he rather likes it.

"Hey, hey, Akaashi," yawns Bokuto after the wind has died down a little and he's exhausted many silly stories about the shenanigans he and Kuroo gets off to, "You know, like this, we're kinda sorta sitting in a nest, don't you think?" He grins sleepily at Keiji, unaware of the effect it has on the second year. "An owl's nest!"

Keiji smiles despite himself, even as he feels a yawn sneak up on him as well. His captain isn't trembling or twitching at each roll of thunder anymore, instead curling into him with his long limbs and sturdy muscles. Keiji watches the older boy for a bit as soft snoring replaces the pitter patter of rain.

"We can build as many nests as you need," he mumbles, and before he can fully process that thought and smack himself for the cheesiness of it, Keiji leans his head against Bokuto's, and dreams.

* * *

**does akaashi even have a brother well now he does  
i mean, where else does that responsible nature come from**


End file.
